“I didn’t really enjoy spending my life in the planes or trains,” Ripert says. “Having extra stress. Not being able to focus on my family. Not being able to give 100 percent to Le Bernardin.”

He ultimately pulled out of ownership in restaurants in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. but eventually opened another restaurant, Aldo Sohm Wine Bar, close to his flagship restaurant Le Bernardin in 2014. He also is part owner of Blue, a seafood restaurant in the Cayman Islands.

To learn more about why this top chef decided that going bigger wasn’t necessarily better, watch the video above.